The Hypertext Module provides an element that traditionally has been used in HTML to define hypertext links to other resources. Although all elements may now play the role of a hyperlink (using the
@href
attribute) or hyperlink anchor (using the
@id attribute), this element remains for explicit markup of links, though is otherwise identical in semantics to the
span element.

An
a element defines an anchor. Since hypertext attributes such as
@href may be applied to any element, this element is not strictly necessary, being equivalent to a
span, but has been retained to allow the expression of explicit links.